Contributions from: Yifaat Rutenberg - Oranim College of Education, Tivon, Israel.
Abstract
This project is developing an internet website which will be an aid in training teachers to more effectively integrate children with disabilities in the regular classroom. It is primarily aimed at teacher trainers in colleges of education in Israel. Today, both the law in Israel and the major thrust of the Ministry of Education encourage the inclusion of children with disabilities in the regular schools and in the regular classes, wherever possible. However, most teacher colleges have not yet re-tooled their programs for training regular teachers for this challenge. Most regular education students are required to take a traditional introductory course about exceptional children for one or two semesters. Little in their course of studies actually prepares them to teach exceptional children.
This website will make available information about inclusion, provide descriptions of successful programs that integrate children with disabilities, teach the users skills in individualizing instruction, and offer suggestions for effective classroom management techniques. The website will feature inclusion at all levels of the public education system from preschool through elementary, middle and high school as well as in the teacher training colleges. As part of the process of developing awareness and inclusion skills it will feature the needs of students with learning disabilities in these colleges of education. The intention of this is that using materials and learning situations that are close to the experiences of both lecturers and students, will make everyone more cognizant of the strengths and needs of adults learners with special learning needs, and at the same time help develop these attitudes and skills. The website will also provide a forum for on-line discussion of problems and issues related to the inclusion of children with special needs in the regular classroom. In addition it will make available additional resources by including relevant articles and selected bibliographies, and by providing hyperlinks to other websites that are concerned with inclusion and with the needs of children with disabilities.
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